The FA Cup first round draw last weekend paired Yeovil Town with their former Conference rivals Rushden & Diamonds.
During their final days in non-league football, the Glovers competed with Rushden on a regular basis. In the 2000-01 season, the Diamonds pipped Yeovil to the Conference title. This was despite the fact that the Glovers took four points off the Northamptonshire side during the campaign.
This meant it would be two years before league football finally came to South Somerset when Terry Skiverton finally got to lift the Conference title in 2003 and similarities can be found between the two sides in their early days in the football league.
Both the Glovers and the Diamonds won the League Two title in the second season as members of the Football League, but whereas Yeovil were able to establish themselves in League One, the Diamonds would experience two relegations in the space of three seasons thus returning to whence they came.
The last competitive meeting between the two sides came in the 2007-08 season in the FA Cup when Rushden came out on top against an injury hit Glovers side to record an emphatic 3-1 victory. Current Glovers' boss Terry Skiverton was absent that day through injury, but will be keen to get a win to help erase the memory of that day.
Meanwhile, on the former Glovers loanee watch, Steven Caulker has settled into life well at Bristol City where he is continuing his footballing education. He has even managed to find the back of the net, as he opened the scoring in their 3-2 defeat against Cardiff City, which was the only thing he failed to do at Huish Park during his stay last season.
If he carries on his current vein, he may even practically sweep the board at the Robins' Player of the Season awards at the end of the campaign, just as he did whilst with Yeovil.
